Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan spent some time in Jacksonville on Thursday night at the Morocco Shrine Auditorium, an event put on by the Jax Beaches Gator Club. Among the topics he discussed:

He's excited about the tougher non-conference schedule, which features Florida State, Michigan State, UMass/Rutgers (in a tournament), Syracuse, Richmond, NC State and Xavier. It's a marked improvement from last season, when the Gators were hurt by their soft non-conference opponents.

The SEC schedule was released on Thursday, and 12 of UF's 16 league games will be televised nationally on ESPN or CBS. An interesting aspect of the schedule is that games can be scheduled on various days in the week. In the past, UF played on Wednesdays and Saturdays unless they were part of ESPN's Super Tuesday package. Now the Gators play SEC games on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

There are three times when the Gators will play a game on Thursday followed by a game on Saturday. In each case, one of the games is a home game and the other is on the road. Donovan is a little worried about how it will impact preparation, especially with the freshmen.

Donovan said sophomore C Kenny Kadji did not have a particularly good summer. Kadji has the talent to be a very good player in the SEC but he doesn't have the same drive to be great that Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green or Al Horford had.

That could present a problem in the frontcourt because sophomore C Eloy Vargas is dealing with some academic issues and his status is uncertain. Donovan said he should know something by next week, which is when classes begin for the fall semester.

Just listening to Donovan talk you can tell that he really likes sophomore PG Erving Walker. Walker will have a big role this season with the departure of Nick Calathes, and Donovan has no doubt the 5-foot-8 New Yorker can handle it. He's probably the Gators' toughest player when you consider his size and fearlessness. The one thing that Donovan really loves is Walker's desire to have the ball in his hands at the end of the game and his willingness to take a big shot.